WENATCHEE — A 34-year-old Wenatchee man was arrested without incident after a half-hour standoff on Friday night after several guests were evacuated at a downtown motel.

Authorities believed Matthew L. Ford may have been armed, but police have not yet found a gun, said Wenatchee Police Cpl. Guy Miner.

Miner said a SWAT team with officers from Wenatchee Police and the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office were called to the Econo Lodge, 232 N. Wenatchee Ave. at about 8:30 p.m. He said several guests were asked to leave their rooms for safety reasons.

“He had been overheard saying he was going to fight it out if we tried to take him back to jail,” Miner said.

Police took Ford into custody without incident at about 10:30 p.m., after a one-half hour standoff, he said.

Ford had eluded police in a vehicle pursuit on Feb. 15, and escaped on foot, Miner said. He was booked into the Chelan County Regional Justice Center on suspicion of attempting to elude pursuing police officers, third-degree escape, failure to register as a sex offender and driving with a suspended license.

— K.C. Mehaffey, World staff